Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) has issued an executive order to establish a state nuclear energy task force to explore adding new reactors to the state’s current electricity portfolio.
The Missouri Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force will help provide recommendations to Missouri’s State Energy Office’s Department of Natural Resources’s new energy plan, which will be published this year, according to the Jan. 13 order.
The task force should provide an annual report to the governor and other state agencies by Dec. 1. According to the document, the task force would be dissolved after its third annual report unless “extended or dissolved” by another executive action.
The task force will be made up of several chairs of state agencies, state lawmakers and industry members from electricity and agriculture. Two representatives from Missouri higher education institutions will be appointed by the governor to the task force, according to the document.
During the Jan. 13 governor’s 2026 state of the state address, Kehoe said his administration is all in on nuclear power.
“We know that nuclear power is a safe, reliable and clean energy source that can and will power Missouri’s economic future for generations to come,” Kehoe said during his address. “So I’m calling on the General Assembly to pass Senator Mike Cierpiot and Representative Josh Hurlbert’s update to Missouri’s renewable energy standard.
Missouri’s Renewable Energy Standard currently requires electric utilities to source 15% of their electricity from renewables. The updated amendment Kehoe referred to would include nuclear power as a renewable energy resource.
“Staff from the Department of Natural Resources’ State Energy Office, in coordination with staff from the Governor’s Office and in consultation with other staff from organizations represented, shall provide necessary support, including but not limited to, research, data analysis, and administrative assistance,” according to the order.
Missouri has one nuclear power plant, Callaway Energy Center near Fulton, Mo., which produces 15% of the state’s electricity. The sole pressurized-water reactor has a net generation of 1,190 megawatts.